


Breathe

by NorthernSerpent



Series: Falice: From A to Z [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, also there's a bughead baby, this is probably more about alice and her kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 03:40:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15428247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorthernSerpent/pseuds/NorthernSerpent
Summary: Three times Alice told somebody to Breathe and one time she was told.





	Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> Just to clarify, the stories in this series are totally unconnected. Hopefully, I'll get around to writing 26 one-shots, one for every letter of the alphabet. If you have any suggestions for any letters let me know.

_**i. Charles** _

Alice screams. She wants, _needs_ the pain to stop. She hates everything about this place, but this punishment is what she deserves. She messed up royally and this is her penance. Alice lost track of time ever since the contractions started. It could have been hours, or it could have been days. It's hard to tell in her windowless room.

There are two nuns with her in her cramped room, one holding her up and wiping her brow, the other stands guard at the foot of the rickety bed. She has a permanent scowl etched on her brow.

“ _Push.”_

So close. Her baby is so close to entering the world.

And then it's over.

It's quiet.

It's too quiet.

Alice looks around frantically and notices the nun's scowl deepen. The other one tries to hold her back.

“Why isn't he crying?” Panic swells in her chest. “ _Is he breathing_?”

“Calm down, my dear,” says a sickeningly sweet voice and a nun pushes Alice down onto the pillows. “Everything happens for a reason. It'll be alright.”

“Tell me what's going on!”

Alice had never been particularly religious, and this “vacation” of hers has made her less so. For the first time in her life, she closed her eyes and prayed to a higher power and hoped that he actually gave a crap about her.

 _Breathe_.

 _Please, let him breathe_.

Her baby's cries are muffled by blankets as the nuns take him away.

* * *

 

_**ii. Polly** _

“I give up. I'm going to fail.”

Polly and Hal are gathered around the kitchen table, papers haphazardly thrown around and a laptop with multiple tabs opened to youtube tutorials. Alice is milling about, chopping up vegetables while Betty hides in her room far away from Mission Control.

“Polly, stop being so dramatic. You are not going to fail,” Alice reassures her eldest daughter from across the kitchen.

Polly drops her head on her textbook and groans. “I'm so screwed.”

Hal leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his short hair. “Well maybe if you spent as much time and energy doing your math homework as you do making eyes at boys, this wouldn't be a problem,” he said bitterly.

“Hal!” Alice's eyes flash dangerously. “I understand that you're frustrated, but that kind of attitude isn't helpful to anybody..”

He shrugs. “I'm going to regroup. I'll be in the garage if you need me.”

As his footsteps grow more distant, Alice becomes aware of another, more distressing sound coming from her 15 year old daughter.

“Polly, are you crying?”

“No,” she defends a little too quickly. Her head is still buried in her book.

Alice raises a disbelieving eyebrow and takes a seat next to Polly. “Don't lie to me,” she says softly. It's a plea, not a command.

Polly finally lifts her head and wipes a trail of mascara from her cheek. “I just feel so stupid.”

“Honey, you're not stupid,” Alice says emphatically.

Polly rolls her eyes. She knows her mother is supposed to say that.

“I know you and Dad think I don't try hard enough, but I really really do. I mean, I have straight A's in all my other classes. Doesn't that count for something? There's just something about math that I can't wrap my head around.”

“Why haven't you come to us before?” she tries her hardest not to let her hurt come through.

“I've always managed to get by before,” Polly shrugs. “And then quadratic equations came and kicked my ass.”

Alice nods slowly, processing her daughter's confession and formulating an action plan. “Here's what's going to happen.”

Polly perks up.

“You are going to do what you can for another two hours. If you don't know something by now, you're not going to learn it in time for the test tomorrow. You are going to do the best you can. Remember to breathe through it because one can not think if there is no oxygen to the brain.”

Polly frowns and starts to open her mouth, but her mother interrupts her with a wave of her hand.

“ _If_ you fail, we'll see if there's any extra-credit you can do to raise your grade. And we'll look into getting a tutor – maybe Dilton Doily? Isn't he a mathlete?”

Polly nods, equal parts confused and touched. “I think so... He's a huge nerd.”

“Beautiful! We have a plan!” Alice claps her hands excitedly. She moves to stand back up, but her daughter launches herself at her, pinning her to the chair.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“That's what I'm here for.”

* * *

_**iii. Betty** _

 

“Where is he?” Betty screams. Her normally perfect ponytail is falling apart, the fly-aways sticking to her sweaty forehead. “I will fucking end him!”

Her mother is at her bedside in this hospital, holding her hand with one hand, and a damp cloth in the other. “Jughead's coming. Don't worry. Just focus on the baby. Keep breathing.”

Truthfully, Alice has no idea where her Jughead was. He had gone to Boston from some conference, but last she heard, flights were grounded due to some freak springtime snow storm.

She realizes that Betty will probably flip out when she realizes they were purposefully keeping information from her.

It's a risk Alice is willing to take. After all, this baby seems to be an early bird, having decided to come out six weeks too soon. Betty doesn't need any more stress.

A doctor and nurses mill about the foot of the bed. Jesus Christ this is happening. Her baby is having a baby.

 

* * *

 

Jughead is slouched on the plastic chair and FP is pacing the waiting room when Alice finds them. Her hair is a disaster, and her eyes have dark bags but she doesn't care. She's with her family.

Jughead notices her and stands, unasked question brewing in his eyes. She hugs him tightly. “Your wife and son are waiting for you.”

The goofiest grin spreads across his face, and Jughead runs off to find Betty.

Alice collapses into a chair and FP takes a seat next to her.

“So it's a boy then? You owe me ten bucks,” FP stretches out a hand. “Pay up, Grandma.”

She reluctantly reaches into her purse and throws the bill at him. “Hey, Gramps, want to know his name?”

“Please don't tell me it's Jayden or Kayden or Laydon.”

"It's almost as bad," Alice smirks and shakes her head. “Forsythe Pendleton Jones IV.”

FP blinks. “Are you serious?”

“Yup. My grandchildren have the worst names,” she tries and fails to stifle a yawn. Her eyes are heavy and the adrenaline is wearing off. She tangles her fingers in his and rests her head on his shoulder. “FP, promise me you won't call our grandson Jujube or anything equally terrible.”

FP's eyes light up and Alice feels regret brewing in the pit of her stomach.

_Oh no._

She should have thought that through. Shouldn't have suggested anything and given him ideas. The callsigns he bestows upon people have a pesky habit of sticking around. Just ask Jughead, Jellybean, Sweat Pea or even Hog Eye.

The cheshire grin tells her it's too late and she groans.

“Jujube is perfect.”

* * *

 

_**i. Alice** _

 

She awakes with a start, sweat dripping from her brow, her glistening chest heaving in faint starlight.

She instinctively reaches for him, but when her hand came in contact with nothing, she feels her heart constrict. “FP?”

It's dark and she can't see him and _oh god he's gone._ Panicking, she reaches blindly across her bed, gasping his name, searching for him in her bed sheets. But there is nothing but empty space.

She needs to find him. She needs him to hold her and she needs to wake up from this nightmare _because oh god this can't be real. He can't be dead._

“FP?” she gasps. Her hands are trembling; her heart is fluttering like a butterfly. Each word is more hysterical than the last. “Where are you? Don't go...don't leave me...” She feels like somebody reached into her chest and plucked out her heart. “You promised you wouldn't leave me.”

Just when she thinks it might be too much, this might be it, all her senses are being overwhelmed by him. The faint scrape of his stubble on her sensitive skin, the feeling of his arms around her, his hands rubbing her back, his deep voice murmuring sweet nothings in her ears.

“Shhh...I'm here.”

He's here; he's holding her. She is not alone.

“Breathe... Now exhale.” She follows his instructions. In and out. In and out. Eventually, her heavy breathing evens out and she is suddenly aware of how exhausted she truly is.

“Alice, I'm here. You had a nightmare. It's over; you're safe now.”

“FP, it was so real,” she keeps her arms wrapped tightly around him, still not willing to let him go. “I felt your ribs crack again...When I woke up and I didn't see you, I thought the worst.”

He knows exactly which nightmare it was. It stemmed from The Event from just a few weeks ago. The One where the Ghoulies turned to arson and FP got caught with smoke in his lungs. Nobody had died, but he very well could have if Alice hadn't been there to perform CPR.

“I got up to pee,” he confesses weakly. “I'm sorry I scared you.”

She shakes her head. “Don't be. I'm overreacting.”

“No you're not,” he whispers in her hair. “I'm here because of you. You saved me.”

Her breathing is deeper and even and she is on the verge of sleep with him wrapped around her. But she won't fall asleep until she tells him. She needs to tell him.

“FP?” she mumbles. 

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

 

 


End file.
